Building a Home in Davao

[Tommy T.]

17 hours ago, Yeochief said:

Love it that you are sharing with us Tommy.  At first I asked myself, self why do you need to follow someone building a house.  Then I realized that I'm learning a lot of things to look for when we are looking for a home to buy.  The deal about your floors not being off centered, I have noticed in most of the pictures they are just like yours.  The little rental we got, about 36 sqm, one of Olivia's friends we are renting from, installed a water heater for the shower (I had to many cold showers in the Navy), three wire from the heater going into a 30 amp breaker in the shower.  Thanks again Tommy and all who have made comments.  

Our whole point when we decided to build a home rather than buy an existing home was so we could monitor and contribute to the construction. As many here - and us - observed, a lot of the construction is just s***. Our home will not be perfect - we already resigned ourselves to that - but it should be better constructed than 90% of those we have seen. And my goal is to leave this earth some day with a home that will be strong, lasting and comforting to L and me and whomever follows me...

Edited August 29, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

A follow on here... Perhaps some of you have not read all the long posts regarding this home build. For those who have not, maybe in some photos you will notice that all the electrical outlets are USA type - i.e. three prong, one power, a second return and the third is a ground.  I insisted on having a ground (that will be attached to a copper post into the actual ground outside).

After the build is complete, I will try to find GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) outlets and see if I can make these work here. I can already see that the sparky has not grounded any light fixtures, but that should not be an issue since nobody should be touching them. The sparky is very smart and knowledgeable about all these things, but they are not commonly installed in homes here. Again... I am very pleased with his work and also that he is the subcontractor that was hired to do our wiring. Everything he does looks very precise and neat - those are good signs of a true craftsman.

And for any readers who are into schadenfreude (the joy of observing other's problems or hassles and I know there are some out there - I know who you are!), there have been plenty of hassles along the way. I just choose not to share them here. We have been able to fix all hassles so far, some big, mostly small...  And then L wonders why I want to drink more Tanduay!!!???

Edited August 29, 2020 by Tommy T.

[intrepid]

3 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

After the build is complete, I will try to find GFI (Ground Fault Interrupter) outlets and see if I can make these work here.

Tommy, several years ago I noticed none of the stores in my area carried GFI/GFCI outlets.  I asked at several locations and of course none of the sales people knew what I was asking for.  As you know they only know what they have and sell.  Showing a picture was also all but useless.  I picked what I needed on a trip to the states and installed when I returned.  If you go that route and all you kitchen outlets are on the same circuit, that may be a wiser choice.  Remember also one GFI can protect several outlets as long as the draw is not too much.  Bathrooms may as well use the GFI outlet.  Now with that said, it seems to me sometime in the past year I think I did notice in Wilcon they were now selling GFI breakers.  Not 100% sure but worth asking.

[Yeochief]

Tommy I can't wait for the house warming your going to hold.  lol

[Yeochief]

I figure it could be one of those house warmings where the host would provide all the cold beer we could drink, but to be fair, if you have a six pack, like Mater Chief and a few others, that's all you would be allowed to drink and in my case I have a jumbo kegger so that's all I would be allowed to drink.  Tommy do you think that is a fair deal??? lol

[GeoffH]

16 minutes ago, Yeochief said:

in my case I have a jumbo kegger so that's all I would be allowed to drink. 

 

*looks at waist line*

I'm going to die of alcohol poisoning...

[carbpow]

4 hours ago, intrepid said:

Now with that said, it seems to me sometime in the past year I think I did notice in Wilcon they were now selling GFI breakers.  Not 100% sure but worth asking.

I have bought GFI receptacles at Wilcon in the last few months.

[Tommy T.]

19 hours ago, intrepid said:

Tommy, several years ago I noticed none of the stores in my area carried GFI/GFCI outlets.  I asked at several locations and of course none of the sales people knew what I was asking for.  As you know they only know what they have and sell.  Showing a picture was also all but useless.  I picked what I needed on a trip to the states and installed when I returned.  If you go that route and all you kitchen outlets are on the same circuit, that may be a wiser choice.  Remember also one GFI can protect several outlets as long as the draw is not too much.  Bathrooms may as well use the GFI outlet.  Now with that said, it seems to me sometime in the past year I think I did notice in Wilcon they were now selling GFI breakers.  Not 100% sure but worth asking.

I installed GFIs in the house back in USA many years ago - that's why I had the idea to put them in here. 220 volt shocks really are not a lot of fun and I prefer to pass on getting any for me or anyone else.

However I do notice that many, if not most small appliances and electronics only carry two prong plugs anyway. The larger appliances seem to all have either a grounded plug or the green and yellow extra ground wire. I reckon walking around barefoot always on granite tiles is a recipe for a shock.

[carbpow]

2 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

However I do notice that many, if not most small appliances and electronics only carry two prong plugs anyway. The larger appliances seem to all have either a grounded plug or the green and yellow extra ground wire. I reckon walking around barefoot always on granite tiles is a recipe for a shock.

Two prong plugs work on GFCIs. The GFCI protects people as it senses sudden current changes. If you plug in your two prong toaster and put it in some water it will see the sudden increase in power consumption and trip in a microsecond.  Remember that since GFIs detect sudden current changes you don't want to use them for large motors as the in-rush current could cause them to trip.If you put a GFCI on the first receptacle in your kitchen it will protect the ones downstream of it too. The third prong of a receptacle that serves as ground is more an equipment protector than a people protector, you'd still get a nice shock out of a grounded appliance. GFIs are people protectors.

[Tommy T.]

20 hours ago, Yeochief said:

I figure it could be one of those house warmings where the host would provide all the cold beer we could drink, but to be fair, if you have a six pack, like Mater Chief and a few others, that's all you would be allowed to drink and in my case I have a jumbo kegger so that's all I would be allowed to drink.  Tommy do you think that is a fair deal??? lol

Your first sentence started to frighten me until I read on. Providing free beer to navy chiefs????!!!! OMG my worst nightmare!